Pitch Invasions: Fever Pitch Fear

Séamus Ó Mídheach knew it had to stop. Ó Mídheach, Croke Park's Match Day Event Controller, watched with his heart in his mouth as the most joyous day in his native county’s recent history threatened to turn into a tragedy.

It was July 1998 and Kildare had just won their first Leinster football title in 22 years. Jubilant Lilywhite supporters spilled onto the Croke Park pitch. Ostensibly, it was an outpouring of great joy, but few realised how close GAA Headquarters had come to witnessing a disaster.

“People on the pitch that day were so out of their heads with excitement that someone could have died and they never would have realised it,” says Ó Mídheach.

“They just mobbed that pitch and I’m sure there were people hurt. What people don’t realise is that someone could be killed - i.e. a child.”

Ó Mídheach had seen enough and the following year he was instrumental in putting a proposal to Croke Park management to ensure such a scenario would never arise again. It worked and finals from 1999 on were free of pitch invasions and presentations were made on the field.

Kildare were back in Croke Park to win another Leinster title in 2000. Glenn Ryan, the winning captain, accepted the Delaney Cup on the pitch and led his players down to the Lilywhite faithful in the Canal End. It was an iconic moment that is branded indelibly on the collective consciousness of the Kildare people.

The unbridled joy of the supporters was matched only by that of the players, who savoured the opportunity to greet friends and family from the safety of the verdant Croke Park sward. The defeated Dublin players slinked off the field anonymously – left to deal privately with their own grief. All-Ireland final post match presentations on the field of play also followed up to and including the 2001 deciders.

It didn’t last. Armagh’s victory in the GAA Football All-Ireland final in 2002 opened the floodgates and ever since fans have been emboldened to invade the pitch. However, the near death of a patron after last year’s All-Ireland final has brought about a renewed determination to bring about a complete end to the practise.

“Medics and Health and Safety personnel revived that person and brought the person around. Had that person been any further out in the field, it is a funeral we would have been going to,” Ó Mídheach says.

“That would have stopped pitch invasions and it would have been the wrong way to stop pitch invasions. That person nearly died.”

The GAA is focused on ensuring the safety of supporters, players, Gardaí and voluntary stewards on match days. A heightened awareness of incidents at Croke Park has prompted a communications campaign designed to educate all of the Association’s stakeholders on the dangers of pitch invasions. The various County Boards, the Gardaí and the GPA have all come on board to lend their support.

Key to the campaign has been the production of a DVD – which will be available on the GAA’s website, www.gaa.ie - showing footage of the chaos caused during recent invasions at Headquarters. The DVD was shown at Congress and to the Provincial Councils and County Boards, and even the most hardened traditionalists have been swayed by the harrowing footage.

Tradition is a corner stone of the Association, but the tradition of thousands of fans endangering their own lives and those of players and Croke Park staff by pouring onto a pitch at the end of a final is one that has to end, according to Lisa Clancy, the Communications Director of the GAA.

“It is a tradition, but it is an accident waiting to happen. We don’t want the tradition of the GAA in Croke Park to be associated with people being seriously injured,” Clancy explains.

“All-Ireland day is a tradition, but pitch invasions are a tradition that we are going to have to change because it is not safe for that number of people to come onto the pitch in a very short space of time.

“It is important to know that this is not just coming from the GAA. The players, the County Boards and the Health Service all know this is not the right thing.

“I think people need to educate themselves of the full facts before they start arguing against tradition and appreciate that there is an onus on us as an Association to promote best practice as part of our efforts to ensure the health and well being of everyone who attends, supports and participates in our games.”